Lately, I find myself focusing more on the drama on this site and forgetting that I come here specifically for the music (nevermind the year-end lists...). This isn't an indictment on the site in any way, but simply a personal observation; I know exactly what to expect when I log on here, and to expect any less is to live half a decade in the past. Still, sometimes I dig myself in too deep, and need pop my head out of the shit for some fresh air every once in a while...hence this list. This is a list of 21 of the most immediately awe-inspiring songs I've ever heard; that is, the first time I heard them, my jaw dropped, my mind was blown, and I was in love. Descriptions abound.

A pop-punk band isn't supposed to be able to create something like this, let alone actually do it...and yet, Anberlin did. The first time I heard this song, I was engrossed; I listened to it multiple times to make sure that it sunk in that I was listening to something above and beyond what a band like this should be expected to make. It's not even my favorite Anberlin song, to be honest, but it is without a doubt their best.

I almost missed this song because it was never released on one of their albums; instead, it was on the "Punk-O-Rama, Vol. 8" compilation. This is one of the best songs I've ever heard by them--the urgency, the lyrics, the absolute destruction of guitar strings juxtaposed with an aloof, near-apathetic vocal performance (as opposed to the rapid fire delivery most of their other songs are noted for) combine to form something familiar like I've never heard from the band. It's beautiful...that's all I can say.

I heard this for the first time earlier last year after being really into 'Bringing It All Back Home' for a good long while. I just wanted to know if there was a reason why Rolling Stone called it the greatest song of all time other than the fact that the words "Rolling Stone" are in it. Turns out, there may have been something to their claim; first time I heard it, I put it on repeat four times. I really think it's just the straightfoward venom; where most of Dylan's other songs are stories riddled in metaphors, this one is just fucking harsh.

The trumpet solo makes this one, absolutely. This is the softest song they've ever written, and it's followed by the heaviest song they've ever written, and the feeling of listening to the two back to back is like eating ice cold vanilla ice cream on top of a hot fudge brownie.

The Deftones introduced me to the concept of soft-yet-heavy songs. This was the first song I ever heard by the band, and it's probably the song that best reflects their entire sound. It's just amazing how so many emotions can be evoked and expressed which so little lyrics (it's a 5:00+ min. song with less than 10 lines of lyrics).

I'm not explaining this. All I'll say is that in order to really, REALLY "get it," you have to listen to the entire album all the way through (at least, I did); otherwise, it'll only be a pretty song as opposed to an awe-inspiring work of art.

How do you get away with making a song like this!? You're talking to a baby about how you just murdered her mother...and you're rhyming perfectly, and it makes sense, and she helps you dump the body, and everyone can see you really love her, and the backing music is amazingly melodic, and I guess I can forgive you for it, you did what you had to do, maybe she had it coming, at least Hailey's all right...so what happened in the first place? Doesn't matter...no possible way at all that it could ever, ever, ever be any more awe-inspiring than this. No way.

I'll never understand it, but this song really almost made me cry for all the nostalgia it brings about. It's such a deceptively simple song, with very straightforward lyrics, and I don't even LIKE Bruce Springsteen, but this song is something special.

When I first heard this song, I wasn't as big a fan of this band as I am...but this just has a grand, epic feel to it...very strange for a song with such depressing and REAL lyrics. Still one of my favorites by the band.

When I described my interpretation of Progressive Pop a week or two back, THIS is the song I meant. I think it's the multiple tempo and time sig changes, or the ethereal quality of vocals and instruments, or maybe just the backing wind sound effects, but it takes my breath away every damn time. "Am I Wry? No" does it by being so damn catchy--who the hell has a rhythm guitar solo, and how the hell do you make it work so well!?

This song single-handedly (re-)ignited my passion for good hip-hop. Every hip-hop song I ever heard/liked/sang with after 2005 owes my interest to this one. It's the most beautiful hip-hop song I think I've ever heard, which is saying a lot.

Atmosphere is the name of the game for this song. I can't tell you what those random wailing guitar chords do for this song, or how much the very down-to-earth vocal delivery works in combination. But I can tell you that, in my opinion, it's one of the best things CCM has ever produced.

A ten-minute-long Norma Jean song would probably have most people cringe at the horror...but then again, so would an eighteen-minute-long NOFX song, and we all know how THAT turned out. As it is, this is one of Norma Jean's best ever; yet another example of how repetition can be used to create the best of songs (looking at you, "Hey Jude")--in this case, NJ create a smooth, emotive groove with very simple lyrics that you subconsciously begin to chant along with. It's hard to imagine that this is on the same album as "Murderotica."

Awe-inspiring for an entirely different reason--I can't believe how amazingly catchy this is. There's not even a beat in the background; it's just one fucking sound repeated over and over throughout the entire fucking song--chorus, verse, everything. It's dark, it's gritty, and it's about killing people. And yet...it's SO. DAMN. CATCHY. One of my top 5 hip-hop songs of the past 5 years.

THE NEW BEAT! THE NEW BEAT! THE NEW BEAT! THE NEW BEAT! THE NEW BEAT! THE NEW BEAT! THE NEW BEEF! THE NEW BEEF! THE NEW BEEF! THE NEW BEEF! THANK NEW BEEF! THANK NEW BEEF! THANK YOU BEEF! THANK YOU BEEF! THANK YOU BEEF! THANK YOU BEEF! Thank you.

Same story as with "Like A Rolling Stone"--I was really into 'Bookends' for a long time, and kept hearing that 'Bridge Over Troubled Waters' was a better album. So I finally got it, checked it out, and while I still like 'Bookends' more as a whole, I can very easily see why "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" is considered their best song. It's effortless, and unimaginably pretty...like the greatest picture of a sunrise ever. It had an immediate effect; I was literally jamming to this in a grocery store within a week.

I'm pretty sure I had a moment of absolute clarity while taking a shower with a single candle lit while listening to this song. And I really doubt that I will ever hear something as utterly, painfully beautiful.

The awe for this one comes from who wrote it. Slipknot, whose former songs are called things like "People = Shit," and contained such lyrical gems as, "All you fucking bands can suck these fucking nuts," came out with this song and it's second part. Very Deftones-like in its approach to soft-heaviness and eerie atmosphere, and the chorus is among the most fulfilling and satisfying as they've ever done. Songs like this are the reason why I love 'The Subliminal Verses' far beyond any other Slipknot album.

"Firebreather" made me a true Thrice fan; "Daedalus" made me realize their talent. "Firebreather," with that choral outro and intense, passionate beauty, is one of the best things I've ever heard Thrice produce, which is an amazing thing to say about a song. "Daedalus" is the exact opposite--subtle and calm, though oddly ominous until yet another passionate, intense outro, which made me wonder how a former punk/post-hardcore band creates something that pretty. I'll never figure it out, but to say that these songs are among the most awe-inspiring songs by a band well-known for making awe-inspiring songs should say enough.

Maniac! - Hahaha...not gonna lie, I find it amusing that you ever listened to them at all :-P. I don't listen to them religiously (no pun intended), but there are a few songs of theirs that I listen to quite often--aside from the one listed, I like "The Fad of the Land" and some other ones off of 'Going Public'.

foreverendeared - Thanks, man!

Though...now that I look at it, I probably could've cut some of the fat off those descriptions. But fuck it, now...they're there.

redsky - I have to respectfully disagree, sir...it's an easy listen for me, which is cool for a longer song. Actually, I think a song like "The Unwinding Cable Car" is less interesting than "(*fin)"...but that's just my opinion.

oh and Siberian Kiss by Glassjaw. My mom is gay, which is fine by me, but her girlfriend is one of the worst things to ever happen to me and my siblings. Siberian Kiss immediately created the perfect outlet for all my anger toward her, which made my day-today life so much happier.

Captain North - Actually, "Embody The Invisible" was my first In Flames song (from Tony Hawk's Underground); "Come Clarity" was second. LOL...I remember the first time I heard it I really liked it, but I was afraid that it was a sign that the band was going soft :-P.

Masochist - the song (as far as I know and have heard from live shows etc) is about a boy (not sure who) that was beaten by his parents and his mom would put concealer on his face before he went to school to cover the bruises

Ahh...sorry to hear that. But I get how very personal a song can be because the lyrics speak so accurately about things we go through; it's the very reason why I have no patience for people who can't understand why a person would like a particular song/band that they don't like.

i should probably check out all of these since i really like the ones on here ive heard... but i must say, taking a shower with a single candle lit while listening to sigur ros has to be the most ridiculously hipster thing you could ever do. Untitled 8 fucking rules though.

pmmets07 - I can't believe you're the first person to mention that Mew song. I could've put any of the first five songs (or the last one) from that album on the list, very easily (I almost did put "Am I Wry? No," but I settled for just giving it a mention).